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Eyes on Trade is a blog by the staff of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch (GTW) division. GTW aims to promote democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor "free trade." Eyes on Trade is a space for interested parties to share information about globalization and trade issues, and in particular for us to share our watchdogging insights with you! GTW director Lori Wallach's initial post explains it all.

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July 16, 2007

Bankers talk tough while they hide behind their mommy

Lou Uchitelle had a great piece over the weekend on the Return to the Gilded Age brought on by our current economic and trade policy, with a special focus on the very richest Americans like Citibank's Sanford Weill.

These days, Mr. Weill and many of the nation’s very wealthy chief executives, entrepreneurs and financiers echo an earlier era — the Gilded Age before World War I — when powerful enterprises, dominated by men who grew immensely rich, ushered in the industrialization of the United States. The new titans often see themselves as pillars of a similarly prosperous and expansive age, one in which their successes and their philanthropy have made government less important than it once was.

“People can look at the last 25 years and say this is an incredibly unique period of time,” Mr. Weill said. “We didn’t rely on somebody else to build what we built, and we shouldn’t rely on somebody else to provide all the services our society needs.”

This is pretty tough talk for a guy whose titan status relied on having his buddies in the Clinton administration and Congress help him compete by changing U.S. laws to favor his group. The self-reliance myth is a total joke: corporations like Citibank rely on extensive government coddling. The latest instance of this? The provision in the government-negotiated Peru FTA that gives the green light to Citibank demands for taxpayer dollars if their "investment" in Peru's privatized social security system fails. Aren't we supposed to allow the free market to punish investors that make stupid investments? Oh, that's right: we don't have a free market; we have a market for the benefit of the rich with the coddling by the government, by any means necessary.

Comments

You guys need to cover presidential candidate Duncan Hunter.

Here's a list of his credentials, including his trade policies.

-He already started a border fence in San Diego that cut the trafficking of humans and drugs by 90% and cut crime by 53%
-He has an A+ From Americans for Better Immigration
-He has an A+ from the NRA
-He has a 100% rating from the National Right to LIfe
-He has a 100% rating from the Americans for Better Immigration
-He supports the Fair Tax
-He has a 100% rating from the Eagle Forum
-He has a plan to overturn Roe v. Wade
-He promises to finish the fence within 6 months if he becomes president.
-He will appoint Constructionist judges
-He has a plan to balance the budget
-He has a plan to cut spending
-He promises to end trade deals with China that are cheating us out of millions, deals enacted by Bill Clinton
- www.selectsmart.com took a poll asking people to describe the ideal candidate without picking names. The results were compared to current candidates, and 69% described Duncan Hunter
-He beat John McCain in a straw poll in his own state
-He tied for second in a straw poll in California
-He has 26 years of experience
-He is a Vietnam war veteran
-His son is fighting in Iraq
-He was Chair of the Armed Services Committee
-National Journal ranks him as the most conservative member of Congess running for president.